On September 30, 2016, the UN Human Rights Council re-elected Jean Ziegler of Switzerland, to its Advisory Committee. Ziegler, the nominee of the Western group of states (WEOG), is a notorious anti-Western and anti-Jewish extremist. Among other things, Ziegler co-founded the Muammar Gaddafi Human Rights Prize (given to the likes of Holocaust-denier Roger Garaudy), and served as an advisor and promoter of a long-list of dictators and mass murderers over the decades. True to form, within two weeks of his election, on October 11, 2016, Ziegler promoted his latest book by condemning the United States and Israel.

Before Ziegler's election, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen pointed out that the Obama administration had an opportunity to prevent Ziegler's re-nomination for the position - and didn't: "The Obama administration had an opportunity to block his candidacy while serving as the coordinator for the Western European and Others Group this year at the Council, but failed to do so."